The World Bank published a brief titled "Helping to Better Manage the World's Oceans," which presents the sectoral results for sustainable ocean ecosystem management and the Bank's role in the creation of the Global Partnership for Oceans.

The World Bank brief highlights investments between 2007 and 2011 to improve the long term sustainability and health of ocean ecosystems, including by addressing overfishing, pollution, the impacts of climate change and loss of biodiversity. It indicates that the main approach in Bank projects has been to establish policy reforms such as rights-based fisheries management, develop blue carbon assets, find market solutions to marine pollution, and enhance protected areas to reduce the loss of biodiversity.

For example, the Coastal and Biodiversity Management Program in Guinea-Bissau has supported the creation of a network of protected coastal zones that covers 13% of the country’s national territory. The Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program in Indonesia increased community-managed areas of coral reef ecosystems and also diminished destructive fishing practices, such as the use of dynamite, in the newly established marine protected areas (MPAs).